The battle at the foot of the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division took another twist following yet another pivotal Easter weekend.  

Arlesey Town won both of their games, 1-0 at home to Crawley Green and then 2-1 away to Baldock Town, lifting them out of the bottom two and putting them five points clear of Colney Heath who slipped into the danger zone.  

That was until they played London Colney on Tuesday night. 

The game was due to take place on Monday but was postponed due to wet weather. 

It was raining again 24 hours later but the game went ahead and Heath were able to score two early goals in the first half through Connor Cullen and Taran Rattrey to put them in pole position. 

The Blueboys pulled one back midway through the second period but the Mags held on to win 2-1. 

The Magpies' first game of the weekend, played on Easter Saturday, had seen them take a 1-0 lead against Leverstock Green courtesy of Connor Cullen but they ended up falling to a 2-1 loss, Richard Ennin equalising in the first half and then Elgeniy Daalberg bagging the winner nine minutes after the restart.  

It could have got worse too when goalkeeper Tiernan Parker was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes, forcing Serge Erkarslan to take over in goal.  

Fortunately he was well protected and was not unduly bothered.  

Cullen had already gone close with a shot past the post when he fine-tuned his radar enough to put them in front.  

Courtney Austin delivered a great ball into the box from the left and the forward nipped in while the Hemel side hesitated, tucking the ball away from close range.  

Bradley Dixon-Smith went close with a free-kick and then Erkarslan had an effort blocked.  

The visitors levelled five minutes before the break and then went in front eight minutes into the second half.  

Parker's complaints that the free-kick that led to the winner was taken too quickly, earned him a breather but once the Magpies were back to full strength, they continued to look for an equaliser.  

Cullen had a shot saved following a good ball from Austin who moments later had an effort of his own succumb to the same fate.  

A third save denied Cullen again and from the corner, Zino Owhe's cross was pushed onto the crossbar by the keeper.  

Owhe then went close with a header and a late effort from Stephen Dodd was blocked on the line.  

Myles John thumped the last effort into the side netting.  

Up until the derby day defeat, London Colney were defiantly trying to confound their odds-on favourites to go down tag with their previous two games being a 2-2 draw in midweek at Hoddesdon Town, Daniel Parkinson and Tommy Pidgeon on target, followed up by a 3-2 success at Tring Athletic on Good Friday.  

The night ended up being one that the Magpies might really remember as Harpenden Town did them a huge favour too by beating Hoddesdon Town 1-0, Tom Colbourne the lone scorer. 

All that means that the three teams scrapping for the second of the two relegation places have three games remaining. 

Arlesey have 29 points while Colney Heath are on 27. Hoddesdon sit second from bottom with 25. 

London Colney are a further 12 points adrift but still have six games to play. 

Harpenden sit 12th with five games left. 

Prior to Easter, Harpenden had gone to St Panteleimon in the week and drawn 1-1. 

The game started well for Harps with a shot that flew just over and some good defending from crosses meant they had a relatively comfortable first half. 

They took the lead too following the award of a free-kick late in the first half. 

Harps won a free kick themselves late into the first half and a lovely delivery from Josh Setchell was met by the head of skipper Ryan Plowright, beating the keeper and finding the back of the net. 

The second half gave a different test for Harps as they had to keep a good shape and play on the counter-attack, defending in numbers to keep the lead intact. 

The Hertford-based hosts though still created chances and were aggrieved to have an effort ruled out after it was decreed Harpenden's keeper, Alex Desmond, had taken control of the ball before a home player took it away. 

An equaliser did arrive from a corner but Harpenden reacted well, substitute Michael Gabblah showing superb strength and control to send Setchell in one-on-one with the keeper. 

The Panteleimon man won that battle and one final ball into the box failed to find a Harpenden attacker.